Southport Express: Inside the removal of beloved train which once stood in Broadwater Parklands 1971-2005

A beloved Southport landmark for more than 30 years was ripped out by the Gold Coast City Council in a ‘clandestine’ dawn operation which was declared ‘disgusting’: FIND OUT WHY

The Gold Coast has been home to many much-loved landmarks over the years.

One which was particularly popular with generations of Gold Coast kids – the Southport Express – was removed 20 years ago in 2005 but its memory remains strong with those who played on it.

The railway came to Southport in January 1889, connecting the township with Brisbane.

The steam train helped bring more tourists and day trippers to the region who previously were forced to travel by paddle steamers operated by the Moreton Bay Oyster Company.

The local band and the Volunteer Defence Corp marched along Scarborough St when the new station was opened.

The Southport Railway Station during the heyday of steam.

But it all came to an end in June 1964 when the ruling National Party government closed the railway and sold off the trains.

They argued at the time it would save money, with more people using cars, to get rid of the railway and focus on roadways.

At the time, the Gold Coast’s population was just 61,000 people.

Russ Hinze, the Albert Shire chairman and later South Coast MP, later insisted it was the worst transport decision made for the region.

Trains did not travel south of Beenleigh again until 1996 and no extension has been done to the railway past Varsity Lakes since 2009.

But in the decades before that, the Gold Coast decided to celebrate its rich history of rail.

The 1953 steam engine locomotive was brought to the Gold Coast in 1971 by the Rotary Club of Southport North as a monument to the power of steam and placed in Tuesley Park.

The Southport Express train

Rotarian Peter Fearnside told the Bulletin in 2005 about his role in the relocation of the engine, which ironically never ran on the Gold Coast line itself, to Southport.

“It was a big project for us and that train has been there for a lot of years,’’ he said at the time.

“It was certainly an attraction for kids and grown-ups alike.

“Many a time you’d see an adult sitting up in the cabin, his hand on the throttle imagining himself steaming down the tracks somewhere.

“Children have climbed over every inch of that train. It’s been something special.”

It was a popular landmark for Gold Coast children in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, who played on its slowly rusting structure.

Cr Dawn Crichlow was furious her colleagues voted to remove the Southport Express.

In March 2005, the Gold Coast City Council voted to get rid of the old engine, citing the growing cost of maintaining its rusting structure.

A full restoration was expected to cost the council $150,000 at the time.

The move was strongly opposed by then-councillor Dawn Crichlow, who was particularly furious the train was removed quickly in an early morning operation and shipped to Ipswich.

Mrs Crichlow said at the time she was “disgusted” by the “clandestine” operation to “steal the train”.

“It’s a landmark. Children love to play on it,’’ she said.

“They have done all this in secret. It’s just disgraceful but I have to say it’s just typical of this council.

The Southport Express being removed from the park in June 2005.

“And what does this leave us with at one of the entrance points to the city? A public toilet. How fitting.’’

The engine was taken over by the Queensland Pioneer Steam Railway Swanbank which vowed to restore it.

Club director John Summers said it would be repainted from its “Southport blue” to its original “bomber brown” livery.

“Our aim is to get the engine back in working order and back on the rails,’’ said Mr Summer at the time.

The train’s place in Southport was later the subject of a mural where it once stood.